The use of plastics has brought much convenience to the world, but along with it also came plastic pollution. Much effort has been made in researching and producing environmentally friendly alternatives for plastics since the 1960's. In the 1970's the concept of biodegradable plastic was born. And today numerous types of biodegradable plastic films have made their ways into the market. However, the vast majority of the so-called biodegradable plastics are made of oil polymers (such as polyethylene plastics) with some degradable materials mixed into the film. Therefore the main component of these films is not biodegradable.
There is a small number of products currently available that are completely biodegradable but these products still have many deficiencies, such as poor water resistance, lack of strength and durability, and they are expensive to produce. These deficiencies have prevented large-scale commercialisation of the earlier model films.